Upgrade G4 MDD to OS X Leopard?

macrumors 6502

My friend just got a Power Mac G4 MDD. Its specs are dual 1.25GHz PowerPC processors, 1.5GB RAM (1 slot does not recognize anything), 64MB graphics card, 80GB HDD, and even though it doesn't matter, a 23 inch Studio Display. He has Tiger on it, but he previously had an iBook 1.33GHz with Leopard. Would it be a bad idea to upgrade to Leopard since it demands more system requirements, or would the performance drop off not be so bad?

macrumors 6502a

Go for it if you have a leopard retail copy (grey disks won't work!). It runs great on my dual 1.42 MDD with even less ram. Also you may want to look into a core image supporting graphics card to increase performance more. I'm assuming that has the stock Radeon 9000 pro or the GeForce MX whatever it was.....?

macrumors 6502

If you feel that it's needed, you can remove one of the 512MB modules and replace it with a 1GB module to bring the total back up to 2 gigs even with the bad slot (The total cannot exceed 2GB, but the MDD will accept 1GB modules).

So, how do you like Leopard on this computer? I think these dual 1.25 and 1.42 MDD's make really nice Leopard machines. As others have suggested, a Core Image card will make it even better.

macrumors 6502a

If you feel that it's needed, you can remove one of the 512MB modules and replace it with a 1GB module to bring the total back up to 2 gigs even with the bad slot (The total cannot exceed 2GB, but the MDD will accept 1GB modules).

So, how do you like Leopard on this computer? I think these dual 1.25 and 1.42 MDD's make really nice Leopard machines. As others have suggested, a Core Image card will make it even better.

macrumors 6502

The 512mb per slot were the official Apple specs on the MDD, but yes, I'm certain that you can use 1gb modules. Although I can't seem to find the link now, I think I first read about this in a technical bulletin from Apple that came late in the life cycle of the MDD product line (or maybe even after it was discontinued).

In any case, I have two machines running just fine with this configuration. With a quick Google search, you can find others that report the same.

This does not apply to earlier model G4 towers. This only applies to MDD/DDR G4's.

macrumors 6502

A little off topic here, but the official Apple specs on their new 12-Core Hellbeast show that it tops out at 32GB. Meanwhile, the folks at OWC have discovered that it runs just fine with 64GB (Twice what Apple said). I have no idea why Apple does this. They are notorious for understating what their products can do. For someone like me, who purchases new machines in seven year intervals and expects them to continue to be useful in some capacity even beyond that, the difference between 32GB and 64GB of expansion potential is HUGE and could easily make the difference in whether or not I want to purchase it.

Unfortunately, the maximum of 2GB (total) in the MDD is real. That's a limitation of the 32-bit architecture. However, since there is no need to install in matched pairs, 1GB + 2 x 512MB will perform just like 4 x 512MB.

macrumors 6502

The main logic board has four DDR SDRAM expansion slots for dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs). Each DIMM can contain 256 and 512 MB (also is 128 MB- and 1GB-capable) of double data rate synchronous dynamic RAM (DDR SDRAM). At least one of the RAM expansion slots contains a factory installed DIMM.

The DIMMs can be installed one or more at a time. The system supports linear memory organization; no performance gains are seen when two DIMMs of the same size are installed. Any supported size DIMM can be installed in any DIMM slot, and the combined memory of all of the DIMMs installed is configured as a contiguous array of memory.

The memory slots will accept four 512-MB DIMMs (also is capable of 2-1GB) for a maximum memory size of 2 GB.

For all microprocessor speeds and for both DDR226 and DDR333 SDRAM DIMMs, the Power Mac G4 supports CAS latencies of 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, and 4.

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